Issue Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics Volume 141, February 2007 3rd International Workshop on Dynamics in Confinement Page(s) 243 - 249 DOI 10.1140/epjst/e2007-00047-5 Published online 29 March 2007

Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 141, 243-249 (2007)
DOI: 10.1140/epjst/e2007-00047-5

The dynamics of copolymers in homopolymer matrices

S.Y. Kamath¹, M.J. Arlen¹, W.A. Hamilton² and M.D. Dadmun<sup>1, 3

1</sup>  Chemistry Department, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
²  Center for Neutron Scattering, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA
³  Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA

(Published online: 29 March 2007)

Abstract
The ability of a polymer chain to relax when it is deformed, and the ease to which this relaxation occurs, dramatically influences the macroscopic properties of the polymeric material. However, the local segmental relaxation processes in multi-component polymer systems are not well understood. The impact of the dynamics of one component on the dynamics of the other is not simply proportional to the relative amounts of each component, as one might expect. This paper discusses recent results using neutron techniques and Monte Carlo simulation that monitor the dynamic properties of a copolymer in a homopolymer matrix. In particular, the results indicate that altering either copolymer sequence distribution or copolymer composition will dramatically impact the dynamics of the copolymer that is surrounded by homopolymers. These results provide important fundamental information on the coupling of the dynamics of two components in a multi-component polymer system. This data also offer insight into the local segmental relaxation processes in multi-component polymer systems, which are not well understood and yet influence the ultimate properties of these mixtures

© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag 2007

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